Kodiak 900 Makes European Debut as TBM 980 Deliveries Grow

Daher Aircraft’s Kodiak 900 turboprop single is making its European debut this week at Aero Friedrichshafen 2026. The U.S.-made utility airplane is appearing on the static display alongside its larger sibling, the new TBM 980, which is also making its European airshow debut.

The Kodiak on display in Germany was ferried across the Atlantic from Daher’s U.S. production facility in Idaho by Paul Carelli, the company’s senior director of multi-missions and business development. This airplane has recently been used for real-world law enforcement missions in Las Vegas and, after making a European demonstration tour, will head back to the U.S. for EAA AirVenture in July.

With its ability to land on short, unprepared strips of little more than 1,000 feet, the Kodiak 900 is finding favor for a variety of missions such as supporting the U.S. Forest Service and various law enforcement agencies. According to Daher, direct operating costs are approximately $400 per hour. Next week, the company is set to deliver the 30th example of the Kodiak 900.

As well as being faster than the earlier Kodiak 100 model, it also has a fuselage that is almost 4 feet longer, making room for more passengers or hardware. There are various options for mounting cameras and sensors.

In the cockpit, the Kodiak 900 and 100 both now feature the latest Garmin G1000NXi software. According to Daher, pilots benefit from the glide range ring feature that shows real-time range based on wind, terrain, and obstacles awareness, pointing them to optimal landing options.

Flight crew workload is also lightened by automatic top-of-descent cues as well as a “descend now” VNAV feature to support constraint-compliant descents at the touch of a button. A new visual situation display has improved situational awareness, and there is a new TAWS voice call-out function for audible altitude alerts.

TBM 980 Deliveries Increase

The TBM 980 on show is the sixth consecutive member of the family owned by Florida-based aviation medical physician Ian Fries. France-based Daher has now delivered 13 of the new type that it rolled out in January and has now manufactured more than 13,000 TBMs in total.

The main change for the latest TBM is in the cockpit, which now sports Garmin’s third-generation G3000 Prime avionics suite. According to Daher, this improves cockpit ergonomics for pilots with a highly intuitive and refined interface.

In the six-seat cabin, Daher is now offering the ability to install a Starlink Mini terminal for satellite-based internet connectivity, along with 100-watt USB-C ports for charging mobile devices. Passenger displays for the TBM 980 have also been upgraded to show enroute flight data.

According to Daher, the latest Prime version of the G3000 avionics suite improves cockpit ergonomics for pilots with a highly intuitive and refined interface. Earlier members of the TBM 900 family use the G1000 technology, while the TBM 960 has the first iteration of the G3000.

The upgraded flight deck has three 14-inch edge-to-edge touchscreen displays providing what Garmin says is improved image quality. Customizable presets and a streamlined user interface have been introduced to reduce pilot workload.

The TBM 980 is priced at $5.82 million. Daher said it will continue to offer the 960 model for operators who prefer this version, which carries a lower price tag of $5.62 million.

Daher CEO Nicholas Chabbert told an Aero Friedrichshafen press conference that the company will continue to invest in new technology and he sees the partnership with Garmin as critical to achieving further progress. “At some point artificial intelligence will be in the cockpit and Prime makes this possible because we no longer need follow fixed engineering protocols,” he commented. “As I pilot you have your own way to think [about flight deck functions]. With today’s phones you simply click on an icon to get what you want.”

According to Chabbert, Daher is prioritizing growth in markets like Latin America which it believes could end up accounting for 15% of its global fleet, with strong demand anticipatred for the Kodiaks. Today, 14% of its TBM fleet is in Europe, which he said was about where it has aimed to be in terms of market share. The company has been expanding its production capacity in both France and the U.S.